Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence and Hesitancy in Nursing Students and Faculty at a Large Academic Medical Center

Background : Little is known about nursing faculty and nursing student's confidence or potential hesitancy to receive the Covid-19 vaccine once it was available. Methods : An anonymous electronic survey of nursing students and faculty was conducted at a large academic center in the eastern U.S. Findings : Both students and faculty reported they were fairly or completely confident that the vaccine was safe (n=235, 89.4%) and that it would effectively mitigate their risk (n=230, 87.5%). There was a 52.6% decrease in vaccine hesitancy from 6 months prior (p <.01);22% (n=58) of those currently willing to receive the vaccine reported moderate to high concern about its side-effects and/or long-term efficacy. Access to vaccine research, vaccine education, and watching others be inoculated, had mitigated their concerns from the previous six months. Conclusions : While both nursing students and faculty reported having high confidence in the efficacy and safety of the Covid-19 vaccine, concerns remained.